eQuilter Blog

Tonight I am writing to you from the International Quilt Festival in Houston Texas.

Attendance seems to be up, and there have been many joyful reunions and celebrations. A lot of the people we have not seen for many years, seem to have come back this year. This includes many of my quilter friends from overseas.

It has certainly been an international group of quilts on display, and in particular I am noticing so many quilts from Taiwan and even from China. Because I am going to show my work and speak in Taipei next month, it is exciting to see how our beloved art and craft of quilting and fiber art continues to spread around the world.

It is also a time when we learn new techniques, gather new ideas, and start to plan for our own quilting plans for when we return home. Everyone I have spoken to has said they are so charged up and can’t wait to go home and start sewing!

So many people have come up to me to thank me for eQuilter being a dependable service, and to tell me they used our fabrics to make their Houston quilts. That is gratifying!

I’ll be flying home Sunday night, and back in the studio Monday, finishing a special quilt for my trip to Taiwan.

Watch for my email on Wednesday where I’ll start a series of essays on the quilts I’ve seen here. I’ll start to post photos next week also. Stay tuned!

Sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker
Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends
Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture
Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram and Pinterest pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Early Wednesday I am heading to the airport, and I am just hoping that I can get to Houston. Denver Airport is experiencing delays due to a lack of air traffic controllers. Gulp. Hopefully I can get home Sunday as well.

I’ll be at the gallery talks for Soul Stories on Friday and Saturday at 2 pm so if you are coming please come to these artist talks and say hello afterwards! I am also attending the SAQA member event on Friday 5-7 pm and hope to see many of you there.

eQuilter is also the sponsor for the $5K Master Award which went to Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry this year. Be sure to see all the big winners, including Best of Show by Ricky Tims.

On Saturday, for World Animal Day, I attended an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens, for an organization that works to pass laws to protect animals (wild and domestic) from cruelty, abuse and neglect. Before the event started, I took a stroll through the gardens at dusk. At the end of summer the last flowers of the season are blooming, and gracefully fading, and there is a particular rich fragrance emanating from the plants, water, and earth. I had a very peaceful moment to sit on a bench as the sky filled with colors, the birds became silent, and the scent of the roses came to me. I spent those moments thinking of Jane Goodall, and how I can take a piece of her legacy forward into the next few years. I admire her commitment to her mission so much….she was traveling and speaking right up to her final days…at 91 years old.

So I share a couple photos from the garden, along with the Cicely Mary Barker licensed Flower Fairies which just came back into stock. When I was a girl I visited my Great Aunt who was a painter, and we would sit in her garden and paint flowers with watercolors, and look for fairies. She gave me a little book of Cicely’s Flower Fairies, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

Sharing our passion for fabric…and cats!
Luana & Paul

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker
Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends
Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture
Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

The last few days I have been thinking about the contribution that Dr Jane Goodall made to the world, reflecting on how I can take a piece of her legacy and carry it forward. She was a visionary humanitarian, and legendary environmental hero. She spent her final years speaking to young people, inspiring them with her courage, wisdom and compassion.

Netflix just released an interview with Jane – “Famous Last Words” – that was meant to be released upon her death. She reminds me a lot of my mother, who was also a caring gentle soul. People like Jane who make an impact on the world, are such an inspiration to me. Jane was friends with Kathy Price, the founder of Mission of Love, who is another one of those special people. Now we must take her message and carry it on to the next generation. She found her purpose in life, and carried out her mission right up to her last day at 91 years old.

Her final statement in the interview is quite moving. I encourage you to find this and watch when you have some quiet time.

Have you heard of Inktober? It is an annual challenge in October, to make an ink drawing every single day, following the prompts that are provided. For those of you who keep sketchbooks, this is a way to stretch yourself with these daily prompts. I have been wanting to do this for years, and this week on Oct 1st I just decided to jump in! You can find my Inktober daily sketches on my personal Facebook and Instagram pages.

On Wednesday I’ll be flying to Houston, celebrating the talent and beauty created by fellow artists! I have 2 pieces in the show, and I will be at the Soul Stories gallery talks on Friday and Saturday at 2 pm. Please make a note in your schedule to come to one of those talks. I am excited to share this talented group of artists with you. For those of you who are SAQA members, I will see you at the SAQA event Friday evening.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker
Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends
Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture
Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram and Pinterest pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

Ever since we opened eQuilter in March 1999, it has become more obvious every year, that some of you are year-round collectors of Halloween-themed fabrics. I guess you could say it is the flip side of the coin, compared to those who like to collect Christmas/holiday/Winter fabrics. These savvy collectors know that both of these themes are seasonal fabrics that usually are ‘one and done’ which means there is one printing, and then it is gone forever.

However, we have some perennial favorites in this category that we DO reprint in our exclusive Rubin Design Studio collections. After many years of frustration when our suppliers would run out quickly, and not reprint….we took matters into our own hands. We still buy beautiful artwork from our suppliers, but when a Rubin design sells out quickly, we just put in an order for a reprint. That’s for all you die-hard collectors!

One important tip for you:
If you see something you love….it haunts you….but you don’t jump on it fast enough and it sells out….just contact our customer service department and we’ll email or call you when it is back in stock. Many of you take advantage of this service. Also many of you subscribe to our Back in Stock email list so you can pounce on those reprints the day they come in. Serious Fabriholic Ninjas – we see you!

One week from now I’ll be on a plane to Houston for the Intl Quilt Festival. I have 2 quilts in the show this year. My “250 Years of American Wilderness” is in the Landscape gallery, and my large wolf quilt “Invisible Borders” is in the very special exhibit “Soul Stories”. This is a new group of artists whose group exhibit is premiering in Houston this year. (Next year we will be at the New England Quilt Museum in the Spring, and the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham UK in August.)

You can see a preview of my 2 quilts here, but I hope you can see them in person!

I’ll be at the gallery talks for Soul Stories on Friday and Saturday at 2 pm so if you are coming please come to these artist talks and say hello afterwards! I am also attending the SAQA member event on Friday 5-7 pm and hope to see many of you there.

eQuilter is also the sponsor for the $5K Master Award which went to Caryl Bryer Fallert Gentry this year. Be sure to see all the big winners, including Best of Show by Ricky Tims.

Sharing our passion for fabric…and cats!
Luana & Paul

Subscribe to my artist website.
www.luanarubin.com

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker
Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends
Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture
Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram, Pinterest or TikTok pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.

As I have mentioned before, our house is full of dogs and cats. This week we are coming to terms with the fact that our 2 yr old Rosie is going to be a special needs doggie. Our boy Leo is turning 10 soon so we just hope he lives a long healthy life. Rosie has epilepsy, and we’ve had a lot of visits to the vet in the last several months. But she is the sweetest girl and we love her so much so….we will take care of her. I know many of you can relate, with similar pet situations.

In 2 weeks I’ll be in Houston, celebrating the talent and beauty created by fellow artists! I have 2 pieces in the show, and I will be at the Soul Stories gallery talks on Friday and Saturday at 2 pm. Please make a note in your schedule to come to one of those talks. I am excited to share this talented group of artists with you.

sharing your love for fabric,
Luana and Paul

Subscribe to my artist blog here.

Travel/Lecture Dates:
Oct 9-12 – Houston Quilt Festival – Soul Stories
Nov 2-6 – Art Quilt Tahoe – Independent Study
Nov 7-10 – Sacred Threads – Indianapolis – Art & Activism lecture
Nov 21-23 – Taiwan Quilt Festival – Taipei – Feature Artist & Speaker
Dec 10 – Canadian Quilt Association – Zoom Lecture – Intl Quilt Trends
Feb 2 – SAQA Europe/Middle East – Zoom Lecture
Feb 18-21 – QuiltCon – Raleigh NC

Visit eQuilter’s Instagram and Pinterest pages for Color and Design ideas.

See Luana’s Artist Blog, Flickr Photo Pages for travel images, comment on our blog, or follow us on Facebook.

Check out our Video pages for interviews and show reviews.